Chapter 2 - The Wife He Never Wanted
Dominic raised his gun toward the staircase.
Emily caught his wrist.
"That's my father."
"Your father isn't supposed to be here."
"Neither was the man with the gun."
"Exactly."
Daniel Carter appeared at the top of the staircase.
He was still wearing the dark formal suit from the wedding, though his tie was gone and rain darkened his shoulders.
"Emily."
"Dad?"
His gaze moved immediately to the ring.
Then to the small strip of paper in Dominic's hand.
His face changed.
"Where did you get that?"
Dominic folded the paper closed.
"Inside my mother's ring."
Daniel stopped walking.
Emily felt an old childhood instinct return.
Her father had always been good at controlling rooms.
Boardrooms.
Dinner tables.
Funerals.
Even moments of family crisis seemed to reorganize themselves around Daniel Carter's calm voice.
But he didn't look calm now.
He looked caught.
"Dad," Emily said. "Who's Thomas Vale?"
Daniel descended one step.
"Give me the paper."
Dominic smiled without warmth.
"Wrong answer."
"This is a Carter family issue."
"Your daughter became a Moretti five hours ago."
Emily looked toward Dominic.
He noticed.
His expression tightened, as though he had accidentally said something too personal.
Daniel noticed too.
"Your marriage is contractual."
Dominic's eyes hardened.
"That doesn't make her disposable."
Something inside Emily shifted.
Not because the words were romantic.
They weren't.
But because they sounded instinctive.
And Dominic Moretti did not strike her as a man who said anything by accident.
Daniel reached the final stair.
"You don't understand what you're dealing with."
"Then explain it."
Daniel looked at Emily.
"Not here."
Dominic glanced toward the broken security situation around them.
"For once, we agree."
Within twenty minutes, the estate was locked down.
Marco and the other security men searched the grounds.
No second intruder appeared.
Daniel refused to explain anything until they were inside the private library at the opposite end of the house.
Dominic kept Emily beside him.
Not behind him anymore.
Beside him.
She noticed that too.
Daniel stood across from them.
"Thomas Vale worked for your grandfather."
"My grandfather?" Emily asked.
"Your mother's father."
Emily blinked.
"My mother's father owned a hardware store in Connecticut."
"No."
The word felt absurdly small.
Emily stared at him.
"What do you mean, no?"
"That was the life your mother chose after she left her family."
"What family?"
Daniel rubbed his face.
"The Vales."
Dominic leaned forward.
"Which Vales?"
Daniel looked at him.
"The family your father spent thirty years making sure no one connected to us."
Dominic's expression turned cold.
Emily looked between them.
"Would somebody please tell me what that means?"
Daniel sat down.
For the first time in her life, he looked old.
"Before you were born, three families controlled most of the private freight routes through this region. Moretti. Vale. Santoro."
Emily almost laughed.
"This sounds ridiculous."
"It's not."
"You expect me to believe Mom belonged to some criminal dynasty?"
"Your mother hated that word."
"But she belonged to them."
"Yes."
Emily backed away from the table.
Her mother had died when Emily was seventeen.
Elaine Carter had been gentle.
Quiet.
A woman who grew tomatoes badly and burned toast almost every morning.
She volunteered at a literacy center.
She cried at dog-food commercials.
The idea that she had hidden an entire family history seemed impossible.
Dominic watched Emily carefully.
"Why hide it?"
Daniel answered.
"Because Elaine wanted Emily free of it."
"Then why arrange this marriage?" Emily demanded.
Her father flinched.
She had rarely seen him do that.
"You told me Moretti investment would save Carter Logistics."
"It will."
"That's not what I asked."
Daniel said nothing.
Emily stepped closer.
"Did you marry me to Dominic because of my mother?"
"Emily—"
"Yes or no?"
"Yes."
The word struck harder than Dominic calling their marriage meaningless.
Because Dominic had been honest.
Her father had not.
Emily swallowed.
"How long was I the plan?"
"There wasn't always a plan."
"How long?"
Daniel looked away.
"Since your mother died."
Emily stared at him.
Seventeen years old.
Her mother's funeral.
Dominic had been twenty-three then.
Somewhere in the background of her grief, her father had already been thinking about a wedding she knew nothing about.
She stood.
"I need air."
Dominic moved too.
"I'm coming."
"No."
"Emily."
"I said no."
He stopped.
Daniel reached toward her.
She stepped away from him as well.
"Don't."
She left.
The terrace overlooked the lake.
Rain had softened into mist.
Emily walked beneath the covered stone veranda until the lights from the windows behind her became distant.
The ring felt heavier now.
She pulled at it.
It wouldn't come off easily.
"Don't."
Dominic's voice came from behind her.
She turned.
"I thought I told you not to follow me."
"You did."
"You're terrible at marriage."
"I warned you."
Despite herself, she almost smiled.
Almost.
Then she looked at the ring again.
"This belonged to your mother."
"Yes."
"And somehow to my family."
"Apparently."
"Did you know?"
"No."
She searched his face.
Dominic didn't look away.
"You really didn't."
"No."
Emily worked the ring again.
Dominic reached for her hand.
She froze.
His fingers were warm.
Careful.
Very different from the man everyone at the wedding had feared approaching.
"You're going to hurt your finger."
"I want it off."
"Why?"
"Because everybody seems to know what this thing means except me."
Dominic looked down at the diamond.
"My mother never took it off."
Emily stopped pulling.
He rarely volunteered personal information.
"Not once?"
"Not that I remember."
"What was she like?"
His face changed.
"Complicated."
"That's vague."
"She laughed loudly."
Emily waited.
Dominic glanced toward the lake.
"She was the only person in our house who did."
Something about that single detail hurt.
"How did she die?"
"Car accident."
Emily saw his jaw flex.
"You don't believe that."
"I didn't say that."
"You didn't have to."
He released her hand.
Emily looked toward him.
"Why did you agree to marry me?"
"Business."
"That's the answer you practiced."
"It's the truth."
"Part of it."
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
Emily continued.
"You didn't know my mother's history. Fine. But you could have solved your business problem a hundred other ways."
"You have an impressive opinion of my options."
"You could have refused."
"So could you."
"My father's company employs six hundred people."
"And my family's agreements keep twice that many out of trouble."
"That's still not an answer."
Dominic looked at her for a long moment.
Then he said, "You didn't annoy me."
Emily stared.
"Excuse me?"
"At the engagement dinner."
"That's why you married me?"
"It's rare."
A laugh escaped her before she could stop it.
Dominic's mouth almost moved.
Emily shook her head.
"That's the worst compliment I've ever received."
"It's the most honest one."
She studied him.
"I thought you disliked me."
"I don't."
"You told me our marriage meant nothing."
"The marriage."
"There's a difference?"
His eyes met hers.
"Apparently."
Before Emily could answer, Marco stepped onto the terrace.
"Dominic."
The softness disappeared instantly.
"What?"
"We found something."
Marco led them toward the garage.
Daniel was already there.
One of the security men had opened the trunk of Daniel's car.
Inside was a black duffel bag.
Daniel stared at it.
"That's not mine."
Dominic unzipped it.
Emily saw bundles of cash.
Two passports.
A burner phone.
And an old photograph.
Dominic lifted it.
Three young women stood together outside what appeared to be a courthouse.
One was his mother.
Emily recognized her from wedding portraits at the Moretti home.
The second looked vaguely familiar.
The third made Emily's breath catch.
"Mom."
Elaine Carter.
Young.
Maybe twenty.
Standing arm in arm with Isabella Moretti.
On the back, someone had written:
ISABELLA. ELAINE. REBECCA.
WE KEEP EACH OTHER ALIVE.
Emily looked up.
"Who is Rebecca?"
Daniel went pale.
Dominic's phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
"Moretti."
A man's voice came through the speaker.
"Ask Daniel Carter where Rebecca Vale is buried."
Dominic looked at Daniel.
The caller continued.
"Then ask him why his fingerprints are on the weapon that killed her."
Daniel took one step backward.
Emily whispered, "Dad?"
The call disconnected.
Nobody moved.
Then the burner phone inside the duffel bag began ringing.
Daniel stared at it.
Dominic answered.
A photograph appeared on the screen.
Live video.
A woman sat inside a dark room.
Older now.
Gray in her hair.
But unmistakably the third woman from the photograph.
Rebecca Vale was alive.
She slowly raised her head toward the camera.
Then she spoke.
"Emily, if you're seeing this, your father has already lied to you."
The screen went black.
A message appeared.
COME ALONE.
An address followed.
And underneath it were four words.
BRING ISABELLA'S DAUGHTER TOO.
Dominic's face turned rigid.
Emily looked at him.
"Isabella didn't have a daughter."
Daniel closed his eyes.
May you like
That was when Emily understood.
Her father knew exactly who the message meant.
